1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a surgical device and, more particularly, relates to a surgical tape for sealing a wound through which a surgical portal apparatus was placed to access a surgical site.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many surgical procedures are performed through small incisions in the skin, as compared to the larger incisions typically required in traditional procedures, in an effort to reduce both trauma to the patient and recovery time. Generally, such procedures are referred to as “endoscopic”, unless performed on the patient's abdomen, in which case the procedure is referred to as “laparoscopic”. Throughout the present disclosure, the term “minimally invasive” should be understood to encompass both endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures.
Generally, in minimally invasive surgical procedures, surgical portal apparatus, such as trocars and cannulas, permit the introduction of a variety of surgical instruments into a body cavity or incision. A surgical portal apparatus is introduced through a cavity or incision to provide access to an underlying surgical site in the body. The incision is typically made using an obturator having a blunt or sharp radius within the passageway of the surgical portal apparatus. For example, a trocar has a cannula, a tube of rigid, thin wall construction, through which an obturator may be distally passed. The obturator is utilized to penetrate a body wall, such as an abdominal wall, or to introduce the surgical portal apparatus through the body wall, and is then removed from the surgical portal apparatus to permit introduction of surgical instrumentation utilized to perform the procedure therethrough.
Post-surgery, wound closure devices, such as sutures, are used to close the various layers of tissue (e.g., dermis, facias, muscle, peritoneum, etc.) of the formed wound. Suturing a patient after removal of a surgical portal apparatus may be cumbersome, while accumulating additional costs to the patient such as increased time spent in the operating room. For example, manual suturing may take approximately 2-4 minutes per surgical portal apparatus, with 4-8 surgical portal apparatus typically being utilized per procedure.
It would be desirable to provide a wound closure material that can quickly and easily effect closure of all tissue layers of a wound.